Personal and professional changes from the Covid-19 pandemic: social inequalities experienced by health professionals in São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT

The pandemic caused by Coronavirus disease (covid-19) has impacted society as a whole, demanding adaptation to a new context, both personal and professional. The working conditions of health professionals have been the subject of current research interest, with emphasis on the risk of transmission and its impact on mental health. In this sense, the study analyzes the different implications of this pandemic in the private and professional environments among physicians, nurses and nursing technicians working in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, Brazil. From a qualitative and quantitative approach, interviews conducted mainly from a distance were explored, with the aid of technological mediation, with the application of a semi-structured interview script. It was verified that the adaptations to live and work in the pandemic were expressed heterogeneously among the different categories of health professionals, identified at the intersection between gender and social class, with women being largely responsible for the articulation of new forms of network support. The interventions to be implemented to recover from the effects of the pandemic will not be able to the inequalities already present in society that are reproduced in the professional environment. © 2022 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. All rights reserved.